Sevan Matossian (00:02):
What’s up everybody? Shut up and scribble. We’re live episode two. We’re all back from semi-finals. Good to see everyone. I uh, got off the plane from Africa with Taylor yesterday and Taylor and Michelle in Oklahoma. We got kind of a janky setup going but wanted to do a show and now. Right. Got Jr. Got Taylor. Both were at semi-finals last weekend. JR. Was at the East semi-final coaching two teams, right? Jr
JR Howell (00:30):
Uh, yeah. Two teams from the gym and then obviously there to watch Jason too.
Sevan Matossian (00:36):
Nice. And then Taylor was coaching Michelle in Africa and I was there as well. Fun. Good old trip to Africa. The classic.
Taylor Self (00:44):
We, we got off the plane at like one 30 and Lizzie picked us up and I was like, will, let’s take the three 30 class. And then at 3 25 I texted Will. I was like, I’m gonna do the five <laugh>. And he was already there. <laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (00:56):
Whoops. And then he, he show, he shows up and he is like, wait, you already, you were like, did it, did you? Are you gonna work out? He’s like, yeah, dude, you text me. I was already at the gym. He’s like, oh, I didn’t even think about that. Sorry. Oh no, that was good JR How’s your experience at the East?
JR Howell (01:12):
Man, it was great. Like I, I was kind of expecting something like Atlanta, like that convention center, but the one in Orlando was like, I mean it felt like it was bigger than the Atlanta airport. It was insane, like how, how big it was. It was easy to get lost in, but like, it felt a lot like regionals of old like 20 15, 16, 17, 18. That’s what it felt like. So it was pretty cool.
Sevan Matossian (01:33):
It was interesting. Did it, uh, looked like the crowd was the biggest on Saturday,
JR Howell (01:38):
Would you? Yeah, definitely on Saturday. And I think that’s just because you could watch teams and then everyone that wants to watch team is gonna wanna watch individual. But not everyone that
Taylor Self (01:49):
Watches
JR Howell (01:49):
Individual only wants to watch team is gonna come on Sunday to watch individual.
Sevan Matossian (01:53):
Yeah. How is it watching Jason?
JR Howell (01:56):
It was great. I mean, he performed, uh, about as well as he could have maybe one or two small execution things that like we talked about. But, um, I mean, I think it’s pretty clear that he’s, he’s a pro now. Like he’s not making any, um, rookie pacing type mistakes. I mean, it’s clear that he has game plans going in and he is just really, really fit. So all he has to do is execute and he is usually right there where he needs to be. I mean, his lowest place finish was 12, you know, two ones and a on
Taylor Self (02:24):
Test six. Right.
JR Howell (02:26):
Uh, that sounds right. Yeah. Two first and two seconds though. I mean, it’s about as good as you can ask for.
Sevan Matossian (02:33):
Yeah. Looked like you had an awesome performance. How do your teams do?
JR Howell (02:38):
Teams were good. Um, I think they finished around like 22 and 30th, which one got the 40th spot coming in. Um, and, and I knew they were fit. I was pretty confident they wouldn’t finish last. Um, and then the team that I think came in at like 18th, you know, didn’t quite, um, finish I’m sure where they wanted to, but at the end of the day, like neither one of ’em made any huge mistakes. There weren’t any big judging disputes or anything like that. So I think they, they uh, the competition met ’em where they were at and they ended up about where they needed to.
Sevan Matossian (03:11):
Nice. And wait, you were at, um, Mack last year? Just Mack or you were at both Sy and Mack? Both.
JR Howell (03:18):
Both.
Sevan Matossian (03:18):
How, what would you say the difference was? Like you talked through the difference between last year going to the semi PLAs and this year going to Orlando?
JR Howell (03:26):
Um, just way more energy. I mean, probably 10 times as many people. I mean there were probably 4,000 people there and I mean, even Thursday was, was like pretty impressively full. I would say there were at least a thousand people there on Thursday, maybe 2000. And then Friday there were probably three or four. And then Saturday four or more. And then Sunday’s still like from what people were telling me, still like probably 3000 people there. So I would just say the, the loudness factor, I mean the crowd got really loud a couple times during the weekend and uh, just the overall energy and vibe, um, was really positive, which I thought was cool.
Sevan Matossian (04:03):
Yeah, do that one team, AV CrossFit mayhan their fans. That was awesome.
JR Howell (04:08):
Nuts. Yeah, I mean, I would, everyone’s gonna remember their name and at i at the games, if they travel like that to a semi, I can imagine what they’re gonna be like at the games.
Sevan Matossian (04:18):
Yeah. That’s so awesome. Uh, Nate, thanks for the 9 99 for the lack of man buns. Uh, we got you covered. So no man buns on this show <laugh>. Um,
JR Howell (04:28):
That was the vibe in Africa.
Taylor Self (04:30):
There’s, I, to be honest, I felt like it was more electric than syndicate last year, like quite a bit. I I, I wouldn’t go as far as to say as there were as many people there cuz the venue was just small. Um, but dude, it was, it got loud. People were cheering, the crowd was awesome. Um, and the event organizers did a fantastic job. They don’t get a fucking dime from CrossFit. They don’t get a dime from CrossFit, which like is cra I was talking to the event, you know, I was talking to them after the weekend and it’s just crazy to me that CrossFit, you know, pushed, you know, kicks into the curb and makes them foot the bill to put on an event for CrossFit. Um, you know, they get to put their name on and everything, but it’s just, they did a fantastic job with everything that they had. I was just really surprised and shocked that, you know, they were able to pull that off at the level they were with the lack of support that they have. Um, I dunno, just angers me a little bit that CrossFit wants to grow the sport, you know, it’s, yeah, you’ve gotta, they gotta do a little bit more than what they did there.
Sevan Matossian (05:34):
Yeah. The, yeah, the organizer’s did awesome. I was there cuz I stayed pretty much when Taylor and Michelle would leave for the, after her events, I was there all day in the stands and there was times, I mean, during four and five test four and five for the individuals, that was really exciting. You could, it’s, you know, when you get like jittery part of it was just cause I was nervous cuz Michelle was going but, or like I would get anxious before when it got close to her time to go. But you could like get that kind of jittery anxious feeling cuz of the crowd and everyone is getting crazy during four and five and then, uh, during seven as well at the end. I mean the end of the Africa for the women, for Michelle and that race at the end, it was, I mean, couldn’t ask for a better finish come from behind down 90% of the workout, take it at the end. And I mean, it was unreal. So <laugh>.
JR Howell (06:20):
Yeah. Yeah. Like, and even before that, like, I mean I think Taylor told me he thought the finish on test six was as exciting a finish as he’s ever seen. So I mean, seven was awesome too, but I, you know, I got to watch that one in the airport, but I didn’t get to see six live.
Taylor Self (06:32):
So there was, uh, maybe it was before me and Will left Will’s like, man, if Michelle doesn’t qualify, this trip’s gonna suck <laugh>. I was like, yeah. And then on Friday night Michelle’s like, Hey, do you guys wanna do a safari on Monday? And me and Will kind of look at each other like, fuck dude, little early to be asking that question. She’s like, do you guys wanna do a private tour or a group tour? And I’m thinking, well, if you win private tour, if you lose definitely a group tour <laugh>. So there was a lot of fucking stress just the whole weekend. But we ended up doing the private tour. It was pretty, it was pretty crazy. It was a good weekend. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (07:06):
Yeah, it was awesome. I had
Taylor Self (07:07):
A, I had a draft, so
Sevan Matossian (07:10):
Yeah. Okay. So what are we talking about today? What’s the rundown of the show?
Taylor Self (07:15):
Yeah, we’re gonna be going over the workouts, kind of the sticking points of each workouts. What, uh, you know, the show’s titled what we learned from semi-finals week one. And I think that’s exactly what the show is. Uh, and the unique perspective we have as we both coached at a semi-final this past weekend. Um, not to mention watched it live. Um, so we’re gonna give you guys our breakdown of for athletes, for coaches, what to look for, how to prepare and, and where we think the meat of these workouts lies. So we’re gonna start with Team Jr kick it off. Yeah.
JR Howell (07:46):
And, you know, just for like the casual fan or maybe the, a little bit more experienced fans like things to watch out for. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like for instance, this first workout is, is the longest for the teams, just like for the individuals, but it’s good to kind of know when you really need to start paying attention because usually there’s a point where the workout starts to shift and the really, really good teams start to separate and the teams that aren’t as fit start to fall back. So as a fan in a th you know, in a 20 to 30 minute workout, it’s good to kind of know where to where to look for.
Taylor Self (08:13):
Yeah. <laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (08:16):
Where you wanna start?
Taylor Self (08:18):
T one team. Event one. I’m gonna say the fucking event word dude because Dave and Cine are saying it, so fuck it.
Sevan Matossian (08:27):
If they can say it, we can say it. Yeah, I do. Okay, I’ll pull it up. Uh, if you just, if Jar you wanna read it?
JR Howell (08:34):
Yeah. Cool. So let’s really focus on the things that we didn’t know before last weekend. So this is what we were given and we, you know, everyone kind of knew that there was gonna be some nuance with the sandbag hold. It didn’t give a time, um, it didn’t give maybe one of the movements that it was married to, but then it got released that essentially you have a line of movements, right? You have the bike and then you have the runner and then you have the sandbag station and then the double under station and you’re all kind of in a straight line. Each person starts on a different movement every round and each person does the sandbag and the double under twice, but they only do the bike and the run once. So a one is on the bike, a two is on the run, a three is on the hold, a four is on the double unders. And whenever the 150 double unders are completed, a three and a four switch, while their teammates are still biking and running, they perform the other. So 150 double unders if they were holding and the hold if they were jumping. And then once all four are done, they move to the learn.
Taylor Self (09:41):
Hmm. Sticking point.
JR Howell (09:44):
So what was really interesting to see was how many people didn’t have to break the double unders very often, but what was even more interesting to me is that going into the workout, everyone kind of thought that the bag would, would play a big factor, but I don’t think a lot of people thought that it would play this big of a factor. And there were a lot of times where the bag and the rote for, for a lot of teams were still moving when the bike and the runner were completed and they were chilling on the machines. Mm-hmm. Like running and biking at recovery paces. Hmm. And after watching it, what I would recommend maybe some of the middle of the pack teams or the teams that barely made it, you know, you know who you are if you’re the mayhem, if you’re, um, the East Nashvilles, if you’re the Krypton team, like, you know, if you can be really aggressive on workouts like this and still hold on, but I saw so many teams fall apart because they tried to hold the bag for long periods of time and they tried to jump for big sets.
(10:47):
But I think the, the smartest way to approach it is to try to stick to four minute rounds on the cyclical stuff. So you pick up the bag and you tell your partner, Hey, do 60 and I’m gonna drop you take a ten second break, you pick it back up, you do 50, you drop, you pick it back up, you do 40, you switch, and then you do the same thing. So you have 90 seconds of jumping times two, so it’s about three minutes of jumping. And then with those 10 to 15 second breaks, you end up at about four minutes mm-hmm. <affirmative>, which is about as fast as the bikers and the runners were moving. Yep. What I think a lot of people did early on was just try to hold on for really, really big sets. But what that did was that put the pressure on the people on the runner and the bike, but you gotta think they have to do the hold in the double unders on rounds three and four, the people that do that, that decides to work out. Yeah. Because people were falling apart finishing rounds three and four being the holders and the jumpers.
Taylor Self (11:50):
Love it. That’s, uh, you know, it’s, it’s interesting how we’re gonna draw a lot of kind of parallels and similarities between strategy on these team workouts and the individual workouts. But I, I’ve, what I found super interesting was how imp well, you know, it’s not specific to this program programming, but watching the weekend as a coach for the first time, um, was interesting to see how you see the inexperience, like you said in the pros. Uh, or you see the difference in experience, like, you see how the pros handle events and then you see how everyone else handles events experience wise and it’s easy to get caught up in a race. Especially I I see that the most in, in early heats where the guys let others dictate their pace or where teams let other teams dictate their pace and you just can’t do that on a lot of these workouts, any of them, to be honest.
Sevan Matossian (12:43):
Yeah. Team two, think two.
JR Howell (12:47):
Yep. I would say other than the clean, which I mean I think the crowd may have gotten louder on the clean than even on the individual test four for the max snatch, but we’ll get to that one. Other than that, I think this one was the most exciting and most fun to watch. Um, we pretty much knew everything about this workout going into it except for if there was gonna be some kind of criteria to switch and a minimum work requirement for every athlete to perform a different type of muscle up for a certain amount of reps that ended up being only one rep. So at some point, every person on the team had to do one bar muscle up and one ring muscle up. What you saw most teams doing is just switching every round. So pair one would do bar ring, go to the thruster, and then on the next round when they increased reps, they would just switch positions.
(13:36):
So if you were doing bar muscle up, that person would normally be on the rings and the person doing the ring would be on the bar. This workout really came down to how teams manage the round of 25. So when you got to the set of 25 thrusters, there was a huge separation. Like the two teams from crash were cruising, they got to the round of 25 and either one pair or both had to break that up in way bigger sets than they thought after doing the round of 20 unbroken. So like for a lot of those teams it became 8, 7, 5, 5, and when you break and you’re hurting that bad on thrusters, it’s not a quick break, but the top teams were able to hold on and hurt for that round of 25 unbroken or at least do it in two sets. And that ended up being like a 20 to 32nd chunk of time and it ended up being the difference between like five 10 ring muscle ups and bar muscle ups at the end.
Sevan Matossian (14:34):
T three.
Taylor Self (14:35):
Let’s do it. We’re gonna, we’re gonna rip through these team workouts and then we’ll get a little more nuanced on the individual.
JR Howell (14:41):
Yes. This was a, this was a pretty cool relay sprint. Um, it really, it really singled out someone obviously in a relay fashion that either was weak at bench press, uh, had some type of restriction on pistols or really, really struggled to do the pirouettes. So the four meter run buy-in was kind of a gimme, but you did have to push the pace because the cap was pretty tight. But you saw a lot of people early struggle on the bench. You saw a lot of people late struggle on the bench. The squats had to be with one leg up not touching the ground and also not letting the foot come behind the other leg, which was an interesting standard. Um, and they kind of carried that over too with the individuals from, you know, from what I’ve been told. Um, but the pirouettes ended up only being, you know, i I would say about a five foot walk in between and the box was big. I would say it was probably a six by six box to do the pirouette mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, uh, uh, not nearly as difficult as what the individuals had to do, but the bench press only being 10 for two athletes and 15 for two other athletes, it was still a huge separator for teams. I thought it was fun to watch though.
Sevan Matossian (15:55):
What was your favorite team workout to watch, uh, of the weekend?
JR Howell (16:00):
Definitely the clean ladder. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (16:02):
That was an exciting workout. How did you feel overall the team workouts watching wise, like the layout of four? Uh,
JR Howell (16:10):
I think a lot of em were pretty viewer friendly. Yeah. The first one was a little difficult. I mean, obviously you had the worm being in the spot, but the, all the work done in the round preceding the tin cleaning jerks every time, you never really knew, oh, is this team on their second round of double unders or is this team on their first round of double unders within that round because they had to switch positions. It was, it was kind of hard to keep up with it, but you could just see with facial expressions, the teams that were struggling, the teams that weren’t because the carry going from the carry into the worm was nasty. It was nasty for everybody. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (16:46):
Cool. Event four, could you wa was there something in, uh, Orlando that made it easier to track on this one? This was the one I felt like I had a lot of issues really without the in, if I wasn’t listening to the announcer, it was hard to track. It was actually in the lead on this one.
JR Howell (17:02):
So I think what’s hard on this one is the fact that one pair does the round that they start on three times and the other pair does the part of the workout that they start on three times. So you’re not doing three of each or two of each, you’re doing three of one and two of the other. So if you’re really not tuned in to how many times they’ve switched, it’s, it’s a, it’s definitely hard to tell who’s winning. Um, the boxes being the middle I thought made it a lot more viewer friendly so that if you saw one pair get to the box and start working, you knew, oh, okay, so the pair that’s on the lighter dumbbells a little bit behind, they need to catch up because if they don’t catch up, the other pair can’t switch. So, um, I would say one in four were the hardest to follow and unless you were there and you knew what to look for, um, but I mean, in general, I, I do think that should come secondary to the tests.
Sevan Matossian (17:55):
How did you feel about the, uh, same like the 30 inch box jumps for male and females? How did that turn out in your opinion?
JR Howell (18:02):
Oh, I thought it was great. I thought, I thought this workout really came down to dumbbell cycling. You know, you, you, you do the 73 times, to me that’s a little bit more of an aerobic workout, whereas you do the, the nineties 30 times. So three sets of 10 it becomes a l comes down a little bit more to how fast you can move the weight. And although the rep scheme was a little bit odd, the best teams were finishing like within three or four seconds of their other pair. So like to me that kind of gives kudos to the programmer as being able to time that out pretty closely.
Sevan Matossian (18:36):
Yeah. Yeah. That’s awesome. All right. Workout five.
JR Howell (18:43):
Yeah. And this was the one that was, I would say we knew the least information about. And once it was released, like you could really, really appreciate not only the race and the spectacle, but you could appreciate how one person on your team not having them at a barbell is the difference in five to 10 reps. Right? So one of the teams from crash, their total reps on this workout for all three loads was less than East Nashville’s first round only
Taylor Self (19:18):
Jesus Christ
JR Howell (19:20):
And Amy. Amen. They’re, they’re levels to this, right? Like they’re, they’re professionals, right? Um, and it just shows you this workout was really, really cool in that way. So for people that don’t know, um, each pair had a minute at each weight. You could switch out if you wanted to, but you could only do that one time. And if you did not contribute to the team’s score at that weight, so if you did not clean the weight, at least one once you were out. So let’s say you had, uh, two females that got five reps each at the first load at 1 95. But then when they got to 2 15, 1 went out, they failed, they rested, they tried again, they failed, they switched out, that person’s done. And the second female that comes on hit three reps, okay, now that’s only three reps and only she can move on to the final barbell.
(20:12):
So it was really cool how Boz put a, uh, you know, once again, um, put a lot of stock into execution and a lot of strategy. Like you have a decision to make, do you wanna stay out there for 15 more seconds and think you can hit the weight or do you have someone waiting that you know can hit the weight and do you just run out and let them come in and work? So it was really cool. Like a minute is not a lot of time to deliberate, which is, which was I thought was super exciting. And then when people got to the last weight, the whole field was no longer working. So you really got to to appreciate how some of the males and females moved the last weight. Like some were still going touch and go at three 15 doing like sets of six and like five and six I think is the, the most I saw, which is nuts.
Sevan Matossian (21:05):
Wow. So the, the final weight did end up, it did matter. It wasn’t just like who could get the most at the lighter weights and then, I mean, a
JR Howell (21:11):
Lot of cases the second weight mattered just the ability to cycle it fast or the inability to do so. Really pa played like a big role.
Sevan Matossian (21:19):
Gotcha. All right. And then the last workout for the teams.
JR Howell (21:29):
All right, so what we didn’t know on this one was the standard for the seated Legos rope climbing. Essentially there’s a tape line off the floor, I would say about 55 inches, maybe 60. Your butt had to come off the ground with your hands still underneath that tape line. Then you could use your leg, like use your hips to keep up the rope legless. And then both hands had to be at or above the tape line at the top, which I would say is probably 12 to 12 and a half feet, maybe with a controlled dis descent back below the starting line before your butt could hit the ground. Uh, most teams didn’t struggle at all with it. Everyone had to do one of those, the chest to wall. Some teams struggle with the 10 chest to wall handstand pushups a little. Those are both movements that weren’t tested in quarterfinals. But what was really interesting to me and what fans should look out for on this workout is how difficult round three is after they’ve done 30 burpees, after they’ve done 10, uh, 10 chest of wall, 15 strict, all that pressing fatigue the 20 kip looked like for a lot of teams, the hardest part of the workout.
(22:47):
Maybe it’s because the 10 inch away from the wall, 30 inch line standard is not something a lot of people have practiced Kip cuz we’ve only used it for strict stuff, but it really has been like, it really was eyeopening how when everyone got to that last round, how difficult the, and how long the six rope climbs took and the 40 handstand pushups took prepare. Like h got really sticky. A lot of teams got a failure on that.
Sevan Matossian (23:15):
Nice. What was your favorite workout of the weekend to watch? You asked that. Oh, I did. Yeah. Well ask, you said the clean one,
JR Howell (23:24):
<laugh>. Yeah, I would say the clean, this last one was cool too, only because it was um, uh, a regression, right? Or like a digression, I don’t know which, which, which word to use. So instead of it getting harder as they went, it actually got lower in skill, which was cool. Progression.
Sevan Matossian (23:40):
Yeah. Re re mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, overall, someone asked earlier, how’d you feel well-rounded this? How do you feel overall after watching the entire, uh, completion of the competition as a whole? How do you feel it all put together?
JR Howell (23:53):
Um, I would still say, uh, I would say the team was a little bit more balanced, I feel like, than the individual. I think is, is very weightlifting bias this year, but with the teams and also with the individuals, and I think just because it’s different, it’s not what we’re used to. The gymnastics volume isn’t there as much as the execution of the gymnastics movements when they’re there. So it’s only six rope climbs a piece. It’s only, um, 45 handstand pushups each. It’s um, uh, you know, around 40 muscle ups, 40 to 50, right? And you’re doing half bar, half ring. But if you’re not able to hold on for unbroken sets, you lose. So it’s, it’s very, it’s very, um, on brand I think with how the programming has been. But I think that’s the biggest part that stands out to me is, um, the density that the gymnastics are presented in versus the volume that they’re usually presented in. Yep.
Sevan Matossian (25:03):
Before we leave, Halpin, Boz asked us, uh, if he should have put the clean workout last versus workout. What are your thoughts on that over order wise?
JR Howell (25:18):
It’s easy to say yes because it was so fun to watch, but I think that a lot of times, especially with the best teams, everyone’s strong and you’re not wondering like, can, can all these athletes hit that last bar as much as you wonder? I wonder if one of them just has a big hole and they can’t do a legless. Yeah. Having seen it, I would say yeah, put the clean last like, and that would be so against what, what most people have done in the past. Yeah. You either put the heavy first, which I thought it was cool. He, you know, that he added that on day two, but I think putting it last would, would be a really cool ring. Like at the games, if they did something like this as the last workout, I think would be awesome.
Sevan Matossian (26:01):
Hmm. Yeah, I did like the final team event with the, uh, burpees over the worm at the end moving forward. I thought it was really, it was a good visual. You could easily track the race, the race component of that last uh, event was great.
JR Howell (26:15):
Yeah. And it actually ended cool. It actually ended on the squats too, which, which was cool because you saw some teams having to pause and rest and some teams not. So that was good,
Sevan Matossian (26:23):
Especially when it was like one athlete that was, you could tell, was struggling on the squats mm-hmm. <affirmative> and that, you know, that just highlights part of the team competition.
Taylor Self (26:32):
I wanna move, I want to, we’re moving to individuals, but I want to address a, a like two things. I’m gonna share this comment and I’ll talk about it after I finish addressing one. Talk about it. Now you talked about how there are like levels to, you know, there’s levels to it and there’s professionals and there’s people that are just out there to have fun. And I was thinking earlier today that I feel like there are three kind of blocks you can put a competitor in at semi-finals. Like, like you have three little squares a
Sevan Matossian (27:03):
I can’t hear ’em. Can you hear ’em? Jar? Nope.
Taylor Self (27:05):
Nope. Did you mute yourself? <laugh>, can you hear me? <laugh>? Okay, now. Sorry about that. All right, so these are the athletes where I feel comfortable with labeling it. I would call it a the safe bet zone or the green zone. And you can think about like Justin Madras, pat Vellner, Jeff Oler, these are the guys that they’re fit enough to qualify whether or not they make small mistakes, um, or have little wrinkles in the weekend. These are the guys that are professionals and they have wiggle room and as long as they go in there and they compete at a high level, they’re gonna qualify, um, regardless of some minor mistakes from here and there. And then that middle zone, I think I, I would like to label it as like, you have a chance, you have a chance to make it. Um, and then the last zone is needs improvement.
(27:51):
The red zone. So right, you have these people that are professionals that are gonna go in and they are fit enough to outwork or survive workouts that don’t suit them. Um, and then you have the people that are needs improvement where you’re not gonna qualify. You probably know that you’re not gonna qualify and you’ve just gotta get fitter. And then you have people that are in the yellow zone where if you’re gonna qualify, it’s gonna come down to you executing every workout the best of your ability, staying in it mentally all weekend. And I, I think what I learned this past weekend, you know, coaching Michelle, was if you’re in that yellow zone, um, it is so mental, I would say almost as, almost as much as physical the whole weekend. Because if you’re in that yellow zone, you can pretty much bet you’re gonna have a bad workout and that bad workout’s probably not gonna keep you out from qualifying if you’re maybe towards the upper margin, um, physically points wise, but it could keep you out mentally.
(28:49):
Um, so that was just such an interesting experience seeing how close you can cut it, of throwing the towel in after a bad event. Um, so if you’re watching this, you’re in the yellow zone. I think, you know, the, my big takeaway from the weekend is, you know, everybody’s gonna get punched in the mouth, you’re gonna have a bad event. Um, and how you respond mentally is, is likely what’s going to be the deciding factor. And I’m excited to watch that this weekend and see kind of what athletes can take a hit and respond, um, and what athletes don’t. I think looking at this weekend, um, after experiencing what I experienced in Africa, that’s what I’m most excited to watch are the athletes that take a shot and still respond. Um, you know, James Sprague is a, is a good example, you know, taking a bit of a hit on test six, um, but responding and doing what he needed to do and, and qualifying to the games. Then you look at someone maybe like Anika Greer is a good example. She took a bit of a hit and wasn’t able to respond or, you know, just, just interesting things like that. Um, in that comment. Here we go. Taylor, do you think the blocks they used in Africa to start and finish the road climbing made it easier? They did not have any rogue equipment other than sandbags, worms and the spudding s.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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